Building Eduard's 1/72nd Scale M4A3 Sherman 105mm (non-Profipak)
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I provided a full background and in-box review in the April 2005 edition of Internet Modeler therefore I will proceed directly to a description of my model's build-up. At the outset, I should confess that I am not an experienced armour builder, but rather I build these kits as a change of pace from my usual fare of aeroplane models.
Running Gear
The
Sherman tank has six sets of wheels in an unusual and complex configuration
compared with the running gear on say, a T-34. Each wheel set has four
pieces in its primary phase of construction (all the same) and another
four parts for the second phase, noting that this phase is different for
the port and starboard sides of the tank. Thus, we have eight parts in
all for each of the six wheel sets. This highly engineered design coupled
with the absence of locator holes and pins gave me problems. The difficulty
here is making sure all the wheel sets on each side are identical in height
and glued identically to the hull. I tried to ensure that each wheel set
met the upper and lower sections of track properly. This entailed several
dismantling episodes and re-gluing of wheel parts. Even then, I was unable
to accomplish the construction without having the wheel sets slanting
slightly. Once I had completed this mildly frustrating phase, I glued
on the front and rear sections of the lower hull. The fit was fine.
The
idler wheels and drive sprockets were next. Again, there was an absence
of locator devices, although the instructions were clear enough. Unfortunately,
when I built one of the drive sprockets, after gluing it with Pro Weld™,
I squeezed it together too hard and it became too narrow to fit the tracks
without major surgery on the latter. Naturally, I did not realize this
until later.
At this point the instructions call for adding the tracks. Some modelers glue the tracks onto the hull parts prior to painting and somehow manage to obtain a great result, painting the tracks after they are glued onto the hull. I have no idea how they accomplish this, so I added the upper hull section at this point and reconciled myself to trying to get the pre-painted tracks onto the running gear after the hull was assembled.
Hull, Turret and Miscellaneous Parts
The
upper hull went on with no problems - a little filler here and there and
that was that. The turret too was excellent: unlike some kits that have
turret halves, this is a single piece and the fit is first rate. I hollowed
out the gun using a number 11 Exacto™ blade and completed the task
using a fairly wide drill bit in my pin vice. The various racks and other
accoutrements went on without any difficulty: it was now time to paint
the model.
Painting and Tracks
The kit provides decals for two schemes: a winter white and a regular overall olive drab -I chose the latter. I used Model Masters acrylic olive drab on the hull and turret sub-assemblies, and sprayed the track parts on the sprue with a dark grey acrylic. I brushed on coats of "rust" acrylic paint onto the tracks, and highlighted the track parts with a pencil. I sprayed a slightly lightened olive drab onto the panels and spaces on the turret and hull, and then re-sprayed with a misting coat of the base olive drab colour to blend things in.
Once
this had dried completely, I sprayed the turret and hull with a protective
clear gloss acrylic and begun the process of assembling the tracks. The
track pieces are excellent and I managed fairly well until it came time
to glue them around the drive sprockets. As I mentioned above, I had made
one of the sprockets too narrow, so I had to cut off the track teeth and
squeeze it onto the drive sprockets. I messed up a few track links in
the process but fortunately Eduard provided extra links in the box.
Final Assembly
Once
the tracks were glued on, I added all the pieces except for the lamps
and their associated photo etch part guards. Eduard supplies a set of
standard factory-issued tools that came standard with each vehicle and
I added little tie-downs using foil from a wine bottle. One point to note
here is that the gun atop the turret was not up to the standard of the
rest of the kit's molding - plenty of seam lines and lack of detail -
perhaps there's an aftermarket replacement available. At this point, I
also applied the decals, which were excellent and went down perfectly
with the help of some Future™ acrylic floor polish.
Next, it was time to apply the weathering materials. First, I sprayed a coat of Testors clear flat. When that had dried, I gave the entire model a couple of washes of burnt umber, diluted in Turpenoid™. When this had dried, I added pastel chalk weathering - a mixture of burnt umber and grey. I fixed the entire production with a coat of Polyscale clear flat.
The
lamps and their photo etch guard were next. I drilled out the front lamps
and replaced them with MV lenses. I found the photo etch lamp guards difficult
to handle and I had to trim pieces of them to get them to fit. They did
not look exactly right but I had had a lot of problems and decided to
stop while I was still ahead. Note that there is ample opportunity to
go crazy here by adding the materials that were carried on Sherman tanks
during service: for example, large amounts of sandbags and various tarps,
rolls and buckets hanging off the hull.
Conclusion
In
the end, this built into a reasonable model. Not a contest winner by any
means but presentable. Some of the problems were of my own making and
due to lack of patience and planning on my part. On the other hand, the
kit is fairly fiddly and the manufacturer could have made the running
gear a little easier to construct - location pins and holes, plus fewer
parts could have helped here. In summary, this is a high quality kit that
is fairly difficult. It is also an expensive kit for a 1/72nd scale medium
tank. I recommend this kit conditionally for those with a bit more skill,
experience and money than I possess.
Acknowledgements
Thanks to Eduard for this review kit. Thanks also to folks on the Missing-lynx message board for their helpful advice. All remaining errors are, of course, my own responsibility.
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